Some Things Just Have To Happen
by Dan Hunter
Summary: Well, here goes a fic that isn't DBZ related...::gasp:: It's about the fight of the century...sort of. R&R. I hope you all enjoy. Oh yeah, it is part humor too.


Some Things Just Have To Happen  
  
"Hey Claude. It's time." The familiar gruff voice of the blue haired swordsman called from the middle of a rather desolate field.  
  
"I suppose it is isn't it?" Claude responded solemnly. Dias didn't even bother to say anything; he just nodded his head in agreement. Claude turned on his heels towards Dias and headed that way, now he found himself in the field as well.  
  
On the outskirts of the field there were various trees and rocky outcroppings. It was amidst this natural boundary that a few figures took their positions. They were not only witnesses they were fans as well. Each had different reasons for being there. Some to just watch, others to cheer for their favorite, and still more there were those who were there for love.  
  
Claude dropped his right hand to his side and unsheathed his sword as he took a position across from Dias, who in turn responded with raising his sheath in a defensive stance. The people on the sidelines were unusually silent as they watched the fight begin in front of them. It was like a dance really, the glint of the sun off of the blades as they collided, the recoil of the combatants, repositioning and counterstriking. Dias and Claude too, were quiet. Not even taking the time to utter a solitary sound, let alone blurt out an attack name.  
  
"This is wrong." Rena breathed softly from her vantage point atop a large boulder. She spared a glance from the fight to look to her friends by her. Ashton, Bowman, Celine, Chisato, even Noel was there to watch this match.  
  
"At the risk of sounding stoic, I must say that this is destiny, Rena darling. Few escape that." Celine whispered to her blue haired friend. "You and I both know it.as do the others and especially as do Claude and Dias. They have known this day to come even before they met." She was being abnormally understanding for once.something so unlike she usually was.  
  
"But.why do they have to do it? Can't they resist?" Rena huffed as she shifted position on the rock so that she was lying on her stomach atop it, her head propped up on her hands, which were themselves held by her elbows against the rough stone. "What if one of them gets hurt and I.can't save them?"  
  
"Now you are just being ridiculous." Bowman piped in, though he still managed to keep his eyes glued on the match before him. "They both have something to prove but neither of them desire to really hurt the other." He nodded, running his hands through his red hair. "Besides.if it really came to that I have plenty of medicine." but he was cut short by a hand clasping his shoulder. A quick glance back revealed that it was Ashton who stopped him mid-sentence.  
  
"You said yourself, Bowman, neither of them will hurt the other." Ashton said calmly. "Please don't make Rena worry by continuing." Gyoro and Ururun seemed to agree with coinciding squawks and growls.  
  
"Humph, this is all well and good, but if the lot of you haven't noticed, there is a fight going on out there and I for one don't want to miss it!" The fiery haired Chisato growled from amongst the branches of a nearby tree. "All of your talking is taking away from my enjoyment of the fight. How can I write a good story about it if I can't even pay attention when Dias defeats Claude?" She added without really thinking about what she had said, until it was too late that is.  
  
"What!? You honestly think that that loner can beat Claude?" Celine exclaimed.  
  
She couldn't understand what the big deal with Dias was anyway. Sure, he is good with a sword, but so were Claude, and Ashton for that matter.  
  
"Why you no good, bimbo of a magician! If you would use the money you save on clothes to buy a pair of glasses then you would see that Claude has no chance of winning this fight!" Chisato shot back.she was positively fuming. No one could talk about her hunny and get away with it.  
  
"Bimbo? I'll teach you." Celine yelled and began to gather a lightning spell between her open palms.  
  
"Oh what.you want some of me, eh? I'll show you what I can do." Chisato leapt from her tree and began a series of flashy ghost attacks. It all looked rather impressive but she never got anywhere near Celine. None- the-less, the attempt only further infuriated Celine and she forgot all about the spell she was casting, instead she rushed at Chisato and began slapping and clawing. Soon after a gigantic brawl filled with hair pulling, biting and the like ensued.  
  
"Woohoo, catfight. Rowr." Bowman chuckled as he diverted his attention from the action on the field to that of the fight right next to him.  
  
"Bowman, you're not helping." Noel finally spoke up as he moved towards the romp. He set about trying to hold Chisato back as Ashton did his best to restrain Celine. Once they were apart and he thought everything was calmed down, Noel let go of Chisato and stepped between the pair. "Fighting really solves nothing.especially brawls over which one of our friends is going to win this fight." Noel stopped for a moment as he tried to think of something else to say. Just as he turned around to face Chisato he got pegged in the back of the head by one of Celine's pin heel shoes. "Gah, that hurts." Noel whimpered as if he would start to cry at any moment.  
  
"Oh goodness." Celine sighed overdramatically. "I'm so dreadfully sorry Noel darling, it is just that this woman has gotten me rather riled up." She said with an absent flick towards Chisato, who responded in her own mature way by sticking her tongue out at Celine.  
  
"She started it." Chisato threw in.  
  
"I most certainly did not, darling." Celine retorted and tried to get at Chisato once more but was successfully held back by Ashton, who was blushing horribly from having to restrain Celine in such a physical manner.  
  
"Look. No one started it, we are just all emotional from having our friends battle right now. Let's just settle down.ok?" Bowman finally said something useful.  
  
"At least you are being reasonable." Ashton responded to that bit of wisdom. "In all honesty, though, I don't know who will win. I have fought alongside both of them extensively and they are both top notch fighters." He said. It was about this time when he realized he was still holding Celine and quickly released her, blushing horribly as Gyoro and Ururun taunted him in their own, special way.  
  
"Ah, I never knew you felt that way, darling." Celine teased and moved to Ashton's side, placing her slender hands on his shoulders, but careful to avoid the dragons.  
  
"Um, well." Ashton was beet red and could barely stammer out a simple sentence, so Noel stepped up and to his rescue.  
  
"Well, if you look at just raw skill, then Dias does have Claude beat hands down." Noel broke in with his monotone voice. "But if you look at emotion and desire too, then that evens things out. I'd say either of them have an equal chance at winning this fight."  
  
"I agree. They are both skilled fighters and I am really anticipating a close fight.which we are missing due to all this arguing." Bowman chimed in. Realizing he was right the others all turned their attention back to the dance in front of them.  
  
The only one who had watched the whole of the fight so far was Rena, and that is only because even during the fight in the peanut gallery, her attention was fully fixed on the real fight. Both Claude and Dias meant so much to her that she couldn't help but feel torn as she watched. On one hand she had Dias, her big brother, and on the other there was the love of her life, Claude. She couldn't see either of them hurt. And she couldn't live with herself if either of them were to be.killed. "I must stop this fight." Rena announced as she leapt off of her rock, an incantation quickly chanted.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?" Bowman exclaimed and stopped her from finishing the spell.  
  
"Let me go!" Rena struggled. "I have to stop them, if either of them."  
  
"Darling," Celine moved from Ashton's side and gently laid her hand on Rena's shoulder. "you have to understand. Stopping this fight wouldn't solve anything. In fact, it would just make things worse. Both Claude and Dias have something to prove.if they were not able to do so who knows how depressed they could get." Her words held meaning, but not enough to make Rena fully understand.  
  
"Besides, they'd never forgive you for it." Noel added. The words struck Rena like a slap to the face. She staggered and tried to form some sort of response. "I know your feelings for both of them, and theirs for you, but if you were to disrupt the one thing that they have looked forward to for so long.no matter how much they care about you, even if they moved on, even if you and Claude get married, it wouldn't matter. This would be the one thing that neither of them could ever forgive you for, no matter how strong they care for you."  
  
"The pacifist's right." Bowman nodded eagerly. "You would probably never see Dias again."  
  
"But.but.I just.don't want them to get hurt." The tears began to roll from her pretty eyes and she silently began to sob, turning and rushing to her dear friend Noel, she buried her head in his slender chest and cried. "I love them so much.is that wrong of me?"  
  
"No, sister, it is not wrong of you. They look for and need your love. That is what kept them going through our whole journey. In fact, none of us would be here if it wasn't for the love that we all share with one another, whether it be friendship or something more. There are some things in life that just have to happen. And this fight that we are missing is one of them. For now let us watch our comrades duel. Later we can all talk about it." Noel patted Rena gently on the back.  
  
"You're so right, thank you brother." Rena pulled away from Noel and wiped at her tears. A small sheepish smile was offered to him and the others before she turned her full attention back to the fight. "Some things just have to happen." She repeated to herself as she looked on.  
  
Everyone else, too, went back to watching the duel that went on still in front of him or her. As of yet it seemed that neither Claude nor Dias held the upper hand. This was relief to some and only a prolongation of anxiousness to others. Chisato found her way back into her tree where she could clearly see her secret love Dias engaged in battle with the overly nice Claude. Rena placed her back to the boulder that she had sat on at the beginning of the match. Bowman and Noel hopped atop the rock to get a better view, and Ashton found Celine rather close to him as they watched.  
  
Out on the field, sweat dripped from both combatants. A drop of the salty liquid fell into Dias' eye and he faltered as his vision blurred. It would have been a perfect chance to attack but Claude wouldn't take advantage of something like that, even though he wanted to win, he still had his honor to think about. Dias took a knee, awaiting a blow but was shocked to find that it never came.  
  
"You fool, that was the perfect chance to attack, why do you just stand there? I know you aren't a coward.fight me!" Dias snapped at Claude.  
  
"I will not take such a cheap trick just to win." Claude said softly, raising his broadsword and awaiting Dias to continue.  
  
"Fool." Dias huffed, angered by the sign of mercy that Claude had shown for him and in an instant he lunged forward, jamming the butt of his katana into Claude's stomach. Claude gasped for the wind that was knocked out of him by that attack as he fell to his knees. "Kindness will get you killed on the battle field."  
  
"Dias." Claude managed to get out. "I thought you would have learned by now, a person just can't change his ways so easily." Drawing strength from some unknown source, Claude pushed himself to his feet and drew his broadsword up in a defensive position.  
  
"Then why do you spend so much time trying to change who I am?" Dias yelled and rushed Claude. His iai-jutsu style of swordsmanship was not only quite impressive, it was effective as well. A blinding flash and his blade was unsheathed and slashed towards Claude. Even though the attack was deflected, Dias regained his stance and had sheathed his sword before Claude was ready to counter. He once more lashed out at Claude, and Claude did his best to stop the attack.  
  
"Because. I don't try to change you, I just try to make you realize that you aren't as cold-hearted as you pride yourself on being." Claude responded and brought his sword around and down at Dias quickly.  
  
Dias had a hard time blocking that attack, not because it was particularly good.more because what Claude said had been astoundingly right. That was the truth and in that truth laid Claude's real power. While his skill was only a bit above average, he had a way of bringing peoples true natures to the surface and exposing who they really were. Often times it was more then one wanted to know. In Dias' case, he found out that his guise of uncaring was beginning to wear thin. Every one of his.friends knew that he wasn't a bad guy. Not even a jerk anymore. And if they started to like him.they would start to depend on him, if they started to depend on him, he would be forced to get stronger or risk another Cecille incident.  
  
They constantly grew stronger themselves, all his friends did, and as they increased in strength he had to be just that much stronger himself so that he could keep that extra step ahead of them. Only if he kept that tough guy attitude, he could pretend not to fight for them, that way, if he lost he had no one to blame but himself.but more than that, he had no one to let down but himself.  
  
As Dias found, however, that wasn't the case. The others knew just how good he was, they respected him for it, and depended on him for it. Gah, and it was all that damn Claude's fault.  
  
"Fine, you win, I admit it. I am not as hard as I pretend to be, nor as strong. Everyone doesn't just depend on me, I depend on them too." Dias couldn't believe what he was saying, and apparently neither could Claude. Hearing Dias' words, Claude faltered and missed a block, allowing Dias' katana blade to slip past and slice his arm.  
  
"Aahh." Claude groaned and let his left arm hang at his side, the cut wasn't that deep but it was bleeding a lot already and it made his arm hurt too bad to use it.  
  
"Claude!" Rena yelled from the sidelines. "No!"  
  
Dias didn't miss his chance to attack and rushed forward, attacking the one armed wonder as best he could. Claude did his best to fend off the attacks, and actually did a fairly decent job of it until Dias picked up speed. He couldn't stop all the attacks and a few more slashes connected, leaving more cuts on Claude's body. One in particular was a gash across Claude's left thigh that made him fall to his knees.  
  
"Oh no. Claude's going to lose." Ashton sighed from the sidelines, he looked over to see a nervous look on Celine's face as well.  
  
Dias moved forward and kicked Claude over. Claude attempted to fight back but having his left arm and leg disabled made him rather open to attacks. Soon enough Claude found himself on his back, staring up into the face of Dias, who in turn had his katana blade against Claude's neck.  
  
Claude shut his eyes and swallowed hard. "Damn, I lost!"  
  
"Dias no!" Rena shouted from the sidelines, was he really going to kill Claude.  
  
"He wouldn't.would he?" Bowman asked whomever was listening.  
  
"Claude." Ashton and Celine seemed to say in unison. The soft feel of skin on his hand came to Ashton's notice. He barely was able to spare a glance down to notice that Celine's hand had found his own. She was clutching it for support and he would give her all the support he could. Slowly he turned his eyes back to the field and watched with bated breath for what would happen next. Gyoro and Ururun groaned and squawked, they could feel something strange in the air, and they didn't like what was happening one bit.  
  
"Claude, be all right." Noel mumbled from his position next to Bowman on the rock. Up in the tree, Chisato was near tears as she watched.  
  
"Dias, what are you doing?" she whispered to herself.  
  
Back on the field, Claude's life flashed before his eyes. His journey, his friends, everything. Was this really the end? He braced himself, waiting for the end to come, he would go like a man and not fight it The attack, however, never came. Slowly the blade was removed from Claude's neck. He dared to open his eyes and saw Dias standing over him, he had already sheathed his blade and now he was just staring down at Claude.  
  
"Huh? What happened?" Claude questioned confusedly.  
  
"What can I say? You rubbed off on me kid." Dias said gently, which was a first in itself.  
  
"But.you still won." Claude sighed heavily.  
  
"Did I? I think I cheated. Besides, had you attacked when I messed up earlier this whole thing could have been very different. So let's call it a draw, shall we?" Dias said softly, extending his arm down so that Claude could take his hand for some help to stand.  
  
There was a mass sigh of relief and a bit of confusion from the sidelines as they watched Dias help Claude to his feet. Soon enough, Dias has Claude put his arm around his shoulders and he was helping him back towards the others.  
  
"You know, kindness will get you killed. And it has no place on the battlefield." Claude joked as he half walked, half limped back to the sidelines.  
  
Dias thought for a moment, then an uncharacteristic smile slid across his face. "You're right. But it does belong amongst friends."  
  
Fin 


End file.
